What a parent can reasonably conclude from a single study, which is usually less
Sample size, replication, effect size in plain words, the distinction between correlation and cause, and why coverage of research about children goes wrong so consistently.
What one study can tell you, which is usually less than the headline says
A single study is one observation of a noisy world. Understanding what it can and cannot support is the most useful thing a reader of parenting coverage can learn.
Evidence · Method · Reading researchSample size in plain words, and why small studies mislead in a particular direction
Everyone knows small studies are less reliable. Fewer people know that they are biased upwards, which is a much more useful thing to understand.
Evidence · Method · StatisticsReplication in plain words, and what happened when psychology checked itself
A finding that only exists once is not yet knowledge. The past decade of attempting to reproduce well known results has been uncomfortable and enormously useful.
Evidence · Replication · MethodEffect size in plain words, without a single formula
Whether something happened and how much it mattered are different questions. Most coverage answers the first and reports it as though it answered the second.
Evidence · Statistics · MethodCorrelation and cause, and the three explanations always available
Everyone can recite that correlation is not causation. Rather fewer can say what else could be producing the pattern, which is the part that does the work.
Evidence · Causation · MethodWhy the parenting press gets research wrong so consistently
Not because journalists are careless. Because a chain of individually reasonable decisions strips uncertainty at every stage, and the incentives point one way.
Evidence · Media · PublishingNo commercial links. This article contains no affiliate links, no sponsored mentions and no links to any commercial client. Nothing in it has been paid for, and no organisation has seen it before publication. Little Minds Magazine recommends no products to parents. Published by Northbank Media. Our two declared revenue lines, paid listings and a labelled newsletter sponsor, are described in full on the about page and cannot influence any evidence framing on this site.
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